UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON

TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT

(UNCTAD)Jidhun Mathew

What is UNCTAD? UNCTAD was established in 1964 as a

permanent intergovernmental body

UNCTAD is the principal organ of the United Nations General Assembly dealing with trade, investment, and development issues

The organization's goals are to: "maximize the trade, investment and development opportunities of developing countries and assist them in their efforts to integrate into the world economy on an equitable basis."

The primary objective is to formulate policies relating to all aspects of development including trade, aid, transport, finance and technology

The conference ordinarily meets once in four years; the permanent secretariat is in Geneva

One of the principal achievements of UNCTAD has been to conceive and implement the Generalised System of Preferences(GSP).

The creation of UNCTAD was based on concerns of developing countries over the international market, multi-national corporations, and great disparity between developed nations and developing nations

Currently, UNCTAD has 194 member states

Mukhisa Kituyi is the current Secretary General of the UNCTAD

UNCTAD members are divided into four lists:

List A consists mostly of countries in the African and Asia-Pacific Groups

List B consists of countries of the Western European, Northern America and Australia

List C consists of countries of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States

List D consists of countries of the Eastern European Group

UNCTAD Conferences

1964 – Geneva1968 – New Delhi1972 – Santiago1976 – Nairobi1979 – Manila1983 – Belgrade1987 – Geneva1992 – Cartagena1996 - Johannesburg

2000 – Bangkok2004 – Sao Paulo2008 – Accra2012 – Doha2016 - Nairobi

THANK YOU!